A LETTER TO MY TWENTY-TWO-YEAR-OLD SELF

Dear Younger Self;
Was my twenty-two-year-old self me, or not me?
What would I tell myself?
I would have loved to tell  that it was a defining time and I did not have the wisdom that I have gleaned from a lifetime of experiences but that is OK.

After that year of heartbreak that was endured, it's going to get better.  Don't get me wrong there will be more heart break in the future, but also joy. Some truths take a lifetime to live into.
After picking up the splintered fragments of life know that trusting God in senseless circumstances will lead to greater moments with Him.
Be content with accepting God's plan. Some plans will be different than envisioned.
Dwell on what is known to be true rather than fixated on the circumstances at hand.
Plans are easily crumbled before your eyes.
It's OK to be ripped out of your dreams.
Viewing life as spinning out of control is difficult to fathom so remember God's absolute control.

     
Know this that God is constantly revealing His love and care.  It is OK to not fully understand the purposes of our circumstances.
It is OK to wonder if God was who he said He was.  That wonder will lead to searching the Scriptures.
One day far into the future you will be grateful for those trials.
Remember not to trust in circumstances that constantly change. Exchange it for trusting an unchanging God.
If expectations do not coincide with reality don't hang onto them. The terrible prospect of staying single will loom on the horizon as classmates prepare for future engagements and weddings as graduation nears.

However, the prospect of a deeper relationship with God is a more attainable goal.  The values of knowing Christ are enriching.  Set out to discover those values, as hidden treasures.  They may be your only options at times.
Choose those things that are important to God over the things of the world.  No matter what you lose, you cannot lose your joy and treasure you have in Christ and the Scriptures.

There are no short cuts through life if we gain through adversity.  Resolve to remain on course and forge on.
Cravings for earthly relationships is very real and it is OK to feel loneliness.  Loneliness cultivates the perfect environment for teachable moments, however, it can also contribute to depression. Balance your feelings, don't act on them.  You cannot trust them.  They are constantly changing.
God will continue to show you what is meant by having a relationship with Him instead of the one you crave.
The love for the Lord will become less distant and become more personal. 
Yours Truly,
Your Sixty-Six-year-old-self. 

  "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee." Job 42:5
(The difference between hearing about and seeing)
Phil.3:7-ll
⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in^[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Psalm 42:8  By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life.

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